Struggle for Alakitasia
by Origm2012
Summary: In an era where Zeref never formed Alvarez, mage guilds now fight for control of Alakitasia in the aftermath of the previous empire's dissolution. Master Garave forms his own guild in hopes of creating a country where the people can live peacefully. SYOC story.
1. Bandits On My Land

**Author's Note:**

Probably a lot of questions about a lot of things, we'll get to those after. So stick around for a quick Q&A.

* * *

Across the sea from Ishgar, lay the continent Alakitasia. A continent which had come to be under the singular rule of one empire. Being such a large country it was never without its own problems and by the year X560, certain parts of the country had fallen into delinquency, openly acting in deference to the will of the empire. Despite all of this, the leader of the country, Emperor Jorun, was heavily respected and loved. He governed as fairly as he could and walked among his people as if he himself was a commoner.

Behind him were his 7 knights. The rank given to a mage of considerable strength. Among this group were those whose intentions were called corrupt at best. With Emperor Jorun, having never married and having no children, the people of the empire and the knights themselves had come to the consensus that Jorun would select a successor from his Knights. Who else would he choose? No one on the continent could be as strong, no one could be as noble, no one could be as powerful a leader as one of them. That was the hubris that filled the Knights' thoughts.

As time went, Emperor Jorun's health fell further into decline and by X567, he had all, but passed away. With his remaining strength he called for a final public forum. He declared that he wanted his words carried far and wide across Alakitasia. There, before his people, the old emperor declared that his successor would be the one capable of ruling all the people. With that, he retired to his quarters and before nightfall he passed away. That decree was heard throughout all of Alakitasia, but the 7 Knights to it to be a declaration that the one among them who conquered the entire continent first would be deemed emperor. They set out immediately, razing towns, subjugating clans and other mages and essentially placing the entire continent into a 7-way deadlock.

The dissolved empire was stuck in this deadlock for 5 years with some knights ruling with an iron fist and others trying to amicably pull people to their cause. However, the illusion that the knights had created was shattered after a few years. A singular mage rose up from seemingly nowhere and with a display of strength never before seen, they wiped out strongholds belong to all 7 knights in a single night. The morning after, leaving behind their conquered lands and a message for the people of Alakitasia. They sought to point out that the emperor never said his successor was among the knights. He had said the one capable of ruling all the people.

Bewildered by the sudden emergence of such a powerful mage, the knights didn't realize the weight of the mage's words. By the time they moved to try and recapture lost land, mages from amongst the people had already risen up and banded together all on their own to lay their claim to the country they envisioned. Mages who had fought under the knights abandoned and followed suit shortly after and in the span of a few years, the continent which had been locked in a 7-way deadlock was now split even more amongst mages of all caliber vying for power.

* * *

 **December 9th, X575, Alakitasia**

One such mage was Garave Nonun. Garave was a tall, tan muscular man who despite having saved up quite a bit of money was never dressed like anything more than a commoner. His body was covered in scars from his time as a mercenary, but despite this he always managed to keep his obscenely long white beard well groomed, while somehow keeping a scraggly mess of a head of hair.

He was currently in one of the southernmost villages in Alakitasia, Liro. All of his efforts were about to pay off as he finally had enough money to start up his own guild. A large smile grew across his face as a bag of coins jangled in his pocket.

"Hahaha!" his deep laugh bellowed. "I wasn't expecting to have so much money left over, but knowing my luck there's gotta be something wrong for the price to have dropped so low."

He continued on along the woodsy path which led from the edge of town out to the hillside beyond the village. Garave had bought the entirety of the land from the edge of the woods to the water being overlooked by the hilltop. When he had looked into the property years ago, it had cost far more than he just paid, which could mean only one thing.

"Bandits," he sighed as he emerged from the woods. His line of thought and eyes had arrived at the same conclusion. Bandits must have taken to staying in this area.

Bandits had become more and more common since the passing of the emperor, those who had felt disenfranchised by the empire felt it was their time to do as they pleased. While it annoyed Garave to meet bandits where he planned to build his guild he knew using force to remove them wasn't what he should do. He'd been lucky to be given chances in life, so why not offer the same to the youngsters in front of him.

"Hi there!" he friendly shouted. "My name is Garave and I-"

"We don't give a fuck who you are old man!" shouted one of the bandits. "Move along oldtimer." added another.

Garave was a man just over 40, but his white hair had garnered him plenty of old man comments in his life. For most matters, Garave always managed to remain composed. But the bandits had touched the wrong nerve to quickly.

"You shitstains want to die?" he seethed.

The bandits were nearly keeled over in laughter before they realized how much more serious he had gotten. "You got a problem old man!?" shouted one of the men. "The old turd probably got lost and needs help getting back," laughed one of the women.

Then in an almost eerie fashion, Garave composed himself. "You're right," he began with a laugh. "I am an old person and you all are children, but where I'm from rude children get disciplined."

He plucked a tree loose from the ground, which instantly killed all sounds of laughter and with little to no effort he flung it at the group of bandits.

Just before it collided, the tree was quickly cut in half with both piecing flying off passed the bandits.

"Oooh," whistled Garave instantly intrigued by the sudden appearance of a mage.

The shaggy haired, fair skin mage before him was standing before him raggedy and while it wouldn't take much for Garave to take the young bandit down, he couldn't help, but be instantly impressed.

"Okay, let's see what you're made of," huffed Garave and with that the white haired mage had cleared the field and his outreached hand was within inches of the mage who had stepped forward. The mage pivoted to avoid the attack and collided with a kick from Garave.

The mage was sent flying through the woods. Garave dusted his hands off and turned to the group of mages. "Well that takes care of that," he began. "Can any others here use magic?"

There was a look of shock and fear across all their faces as they looked to the forest for where their comrade had gone.

"Leave them alone," roared the mage from the woods. He darted out of the woods covered in blood, but with not a shred of fear in his eyes.

That look on his face was already starting to get Garave excited, but it was better to nip this fight in the bud sooner rather than later.

In his rage the young mage rushed Garave, but before he reached Garave, the old mage planted a swift chop in his attacker's blind spot leaving him unconscious.

Garave then turned to the bandits and said, "We've got some things to discuss."

Later that day, the young mage awoke in the lap of one of his comrades.

"Where is he?!" he shouted as he leapt to his feet.

"Hey!" called Garave from the top of the hill. "Your friends said to call you Mun Young. How about you join my guild?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

First, off a special thanks to Watson and Dread for always being helpful... I have no self control guys.

 **Q & A**:

1) Are you alive? Yes.

2) Are you leaving fanfiction? No.

3) Are you canceling your stories? No.

4) What's taking so long?/Are you on hiatus still? Yes, I'm on hiatus. What's taking so long really boils down to a combination of bad luck. All of the documents with my plans for stories and OCs and what not, are currently not viewable on my PC. I was able to write this because it's a brand new story.

5) When will the hiatus end? I should be making regular updates in 1-2 weeks. Granted, chapter length might be shorter at first as I get re-accustomed to ideas and planning for all the stories.

6) What's happening with the Summit Project? This project is on Hiatus until I get further notice.

 **General Info**

This story is an SYOC story, some of you are aware that all of my Fairy Tail stories take place in a single universe. However, this story takes place in a different universe. If you're interested in submitting an OC, you must contact me through PM so that I can give you all of the rules/form/etc.

 **Thanks**

I really appreciate the support and random messages of people checking in, I hope I'm back for good this time. Thank you.


	2. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

**Author's Note:** And we're back with another one.

* * *

 **December 9th, X575, Lira**

"Are you out of your mind old man?!" shouted Mun Young.

"Listen, call me old man again and you'll be sleeping for a lot longer this time," said Garave, his smile never fading.

"Why the hell would I join your guild? And, what the hell? There's no god damn guild out here?"

"Ahaha," began Garave as he pulled a cloth out of his pocket. He shook out the wrinkles and held up what appeared to be a flag with an image of spiraling circles. "I've only just formed it. My guild Numa Orbis."

"That's a weird name for a guild old m- I mean pops."

Garave inwardly debated how old pops made him feel and then gave it the okay. "Yeah, but I'm sure you'll come to like it over time. We'll be building the guild all throughout this area. It'll take a lot of work so let's get started."

"Why are you talking like I already accepted!?" yelled Mun. He was looking around at his comrades, completely lost why none of them were even debating this or why they had even remained here after he lost consciousness. "And you all. What the hell's wrong with you guys?"

"Oh, you still want to fight?" asked Garave. "I don't really want to, but a job's a job. So if this is the way you want things to go, fine."

"What's that mean?" asked Mun as he took in the sullen faces of his comrades.

"The town of Lira has long since had a bandit problem. You brats aren't the first, but you are the first to avoid capture. So as part of the requirements for opening a guild in Lira, I was tasked with eliminating the bandit problem. Lira is a town which has managed to avoid being dragged into Alakitasia's guild problem, but it was only a matter of time before they reached here. That's why the local clan leader decided that if anyone was gonna form a guild here, he'd prefer it be me."

"So you're here to get rid of us," said Mun in a defeated voice. Finally thinking he understood why his comrades were so depressed, he sank to his knees. There was no way he could beat the old man, he knew that. But he could at the very least beg for his friends. "Please, just take me and let them go."

Garave's smile grew until he burst into a fit of laughter. "Kill you?" he laughed. "You must have a terrible memory. I said I want you to join my guild. You and all of your friends. I know you can use magic and while you were out I tested everyone here. A lot of you have some potential. So why not join my guild?"

"But your job is to get rid of the bandits?!" asked a bewildered Mun.

"Exactly," grinned Garave. "You can't be bandits if you're mages."

Mun looked around at the sorrowful eyes of his friends in confusion.

"You're probably wondering why they all look so worried," began Garave. "I've been asking all of them to join since you were knocked out. Even though they knew the alternative to my offer they said they won't decide anything until you give an answer. So they've been patiently waiting for you to decide their fates. But tell me this, is that really the life you want for your friends? Are they supposed to remain weak and unable to care for themselves all time? And what happens if you disappear? They'll be left stranded without proper training and guidance. That's why I'm saying, join my guild and let me train all of you."

Mun couldn't say much, since he was little all he'd ever done was look after his friends. Now he'd failed, but he couldn't even be mad at Garave. He was right. Eventually someone else would have come along to wipe them out and Mun wouldn't have been strong enough to protect his comrades then. Not without proper training and if there was one thing Mun was sure of, it was that the mage before him was strong.

"I'll do it," said Mun shocking his friends. "You bastards better hurry up and decide what you're gonna do, because if pops over there is offering training, you sorry excuse for bandits better be taking the offer!"

* * *

 **December 13th, X575, Lira**

Early into the hours of the morning, Garave's small band of mages were asleep on that hillside. But experience had gotten the better of him, someone had been watching the group for hours. Just as Garave was getting tired of waiting for them to make a move, he heard a light drop from someone jumping off a tree branch. They were creeping through the mages who were asleep and from Garave's memory towards Mun.

Garave inwardly sighed. "What'd this idiot do to have someone skilled like this come after him?" he thought to himself.

In almost a whisper as he lay on the ground, he said, "You can hear me right?"

His words froze the intruder immediately. They had to have thought they were moving undetected, so the current development left them unsure of what to do next.

"Yes," a woman's voice said softly.

"Good," he continued. "Are you here to kill someone?"

"No."

"Are you here to arrest someone?

"No."

"Then you're here to rob someone."

"Yes."

"Did these brats take something from you?

"Yes."

"And you're just here to take it back?"

"Yes."

"Well, it's early," Garave sighed. "But it's never too early to learn a lesson."

He hopped to his feet and took a deep breath. "Wake the hell up brats!"

Through sleep, darkness and shock. They all scrambled to their feet and slowly took in their surroundings while the thief had been too confused to make any movements.

With their eyes slowly adjusting to the light, Garave said, "There's a young lady here who you all robbed. She was gonna take her stuff back and disappear. But she could have just as well have killed you. You all joined my guild for training and so this is one of the first things we'll focus on, being aware of your surroundings. Take a seat, we'll start with meditation."

The group was too confused to argue and before they could even take into account the thief, the decided to just follow the order and meditate. Garave had them focusing on trying to feel each other's presence without sight so as to develop a means of detecting magical power.

"Um, what about my stuff?" the young thief asked.

With the light making it easier to see, it was clear that she was used to her profession. Her matching dark green long pants and long sleeved T-shirt. She wore a hooded brown cloak and a matching belt with a slot for where a hunter's knife would be. The pale young lady's dark brown braided hair reached the middle of her back. And even in this darkness Garave could make out that she was small and nimble.

The group had seemingly already forgotten about her when she asked her question. But it had an adverse effect as Garave turned on his to her immediately.

"And you, what poor form was that? Your skills are commendable, but to not notice that I'd noticed you is to dangerous. Take a seat next to Mun."

Her dark green eyes pierced the darkness in confusion. "I-"

"No 'I'," interrupted Garave before turning to the group. "Who has this young lady's things?"

One of the mages raised their hand, walked over to their things and took out a hunting knife and bow before handing it over to the girl and then taking a seat again.

The girl was utterly confused. These weren't the bandits who had jumped her days before.

"Young lady, take a seat or go," Garave said coldly.

Completely bewildered by the turn of events, she took a seat next to Mun.

"I'm so confused," she said. Not really able to recognize the emotion.

"Shhh," said Mun. "I don't wanna hear the old man yelling again."

"What was that?!" yelled Garave hearing the sound in the direction of the young lady. "Young lady, do you have a name?

"I'm Rayna Zell."

"I'm Garave Nonun and I apologize on behalf of my mages for your troubles."

"You're a guild master?" she asked.

"I am. The guild's new, but we're getting there," he announced proudly.

Rayna was more perplexed than she could ever remember, but one thing was for sure, there wasn't anything particularly wrong with the situation. She was confused, but she didn't feel like she should leave.

And at that point she was having an internal argument with herself.

"Rayna, you're never going to be able to sense things properly with so much confusion in your magic," said Garave from where he was seated.

Then she was able to instantly place the feeling. That was it, this familiar feeling reminded her of what it was to simply learn magic. Her confusion was how she had happened upon the feeling, but there was no doubt that here, beside thieves she was simply content.

As the morning drew on, she decided to take a leap of faith. "Garave, I was wondering if I could join your guild."

"Ahaha," chuckled Garave. "Of course my dear."

* * *

 **December 14th, X575, Lira**

Mun's group of bandits had joined Garave's guild with the promise of training ahead, but before any training could be done. They needed a place to call home. Garave's first lesson was that mages should always strive to keep the world in balance. They would need to cut down some trees for lumber, but in exchange, Garave had them plant seeds to one day grow back. He had taken the group into town, had them fed, gave them a means to wash up and even managed to afford clothes that weren't torn to shreds from life on the road.

They had even properly apologized to Rayna and while the young brunette was doing much conversing, it seemed like everyone was more or less getting along to Garave.

Along the way, Garave learned that his new mages were actually all born in Lira. They had mostly just been a gang of street kids until Mun managed to get his hands on magic books off a merchant. Using it, they scraped together some basic understanding of magic and over time evolved to their current state. As far as bandits went, they were top of the line. But compared to a properly trained mage, they were sitting ducks.

This was a concept that Mun, was struggling to get through his head. He acknowledged he needed training, but he refused to accept the reality that the meager portion of magical ability he had was as constrained as he though.

"I'm telling you, we aren't weak!" shouted Mun. "Sure, we got our asses handed to us by you, but how many people are really walking around as strong as you?"

"More than I care to admit," said Garave. "But you're not even strong enough to gauge that gap. It wouldn't be much for a properly trained mage from a clan to wipe the floor with you."

They had been working on the guild hall, but had taken a break to eat when the discussion began.

"Yeah, if the clans are so strong, how come we've avoided them all this time?" asked a guild member.

"The strength to run does not correlate to the strength to fight," said Garave. "Take Mun for example. The lack of understanding on his part when it comes to even his own magic makes it astounding to see how far he's come. When I hurled that tree at you all, he sliced it using air centered on his hand. It happened quick which makes it hard for most people to see. It gives the impression that his magic is based on the air and I'm fairly certain he believes that too, but in reality that's not his magic at all and with proper training-"

"Yeah, well we all didn't grow up rich in a fancy clan like you!" shouted Mun. "If you're gonna teach, then teach. But don't think I'm gonna sit here for a second and listen to you tell us how clan mages are better than us."

Garave sighed. This was a lesson he wouldn't be able to teach himself. Mun and his friends had to be shown how cruel the world was, by someone within their reach.

"Let's go," said Garave and without a word he began walking towards the town with his mages in tow.

Just past the wooded clearing, the path diverged out into the country on one side and towards Lira's town square on the other. Being a town set around a wooded region, most of the businesses were made from wood, but displayed an impressive carving style to depict their originality. There were small restaurants, shops and a larger building where town hall meetings were held. Lira's most impressive features however, were the pristine river running directly through the middle of it and the assortment of houses and building on the other side of the river.

It seemed strange to most people, but to the people who lived in Lira, it was necessary as the people on the other side of the river were the Deo Clan. A powerful clan whose magic often proved destructive. As a result, the people of Lira though it might be better for the entire clan to live on the other side.

"Hey pops, where are we going?" asked one of the guild mages.

"We're going to the Deos household since they put out the offer to wipe you guys out," said Garave.

He kept walking for a bit before he realized all of his mages other than Rayna had stopped moving. "What's wrong," he asked coyly.

"What the hell is this?" asked Mun.

"I'm gonna show you exactly what I mean when I say you don't understand the world you've been living in."

They hadn't moved yet, but Rayna followed closely behind the master before adding, "If you're so sure of yourself. There shouldn't be anything to worry over."

They arrived at the Deo clan's main house shortly after. From far it looked like most of the other buildings, but upon closer inspection, the house was built from old, rich wood with each piece having beautiful carvings ingrained into the wood.

Before Garave could even knock the door it swung open and a young man stood in the doorway. A tall, slender young man with brown hair stood before them. He was wearing white dress pants and a checkered shirt. He was in the process of unbuttoning his collar, as if he had just come from somewhere important.

The young man held a look of disgust on his face when he saw who was before him.

"My father must have been mistaken," he began. "He said he had an old friend would be coming, but I don't see anyone he could possibly be associating with."

Without another word, he began closing the door.

"Brat. Close that door and Felix is gonna have to buy a new one to replace it," Garave said coolly.

Instantly disgust took over the young man's face. "How dare you!" he nearly shouted. "Using my father's name so casually. I guess bums nowadays don't even have manners."

A magic circle slowly formed around his fist, but before he could take another step an older man's voice could be heard echoing behind him.

"Marix!"it called. "You insult us with your own rudeness."

The man behind the voice now stood in the door. Felix Deo was his name and for the better part of a decade, he had been the head of the Deo clan, but before that he and Garave had been friends on the battlefield for the previous empire.

"Terrible. Terrible. Terrible," he began. "You raise your fist to this man and can't even tell the gap between you and him is like the gap between heaven and earth."

"Old friend!" smiled Felix as he pulled Garave in for a hug. "Somehow you look even older than the last time I saw you."

"I'd kill you Felix, if the fight wasn't gonna be so much of a hassle," laughed Garave.

While he laughed, Felix finally noticed the people behind Garave.

"And who are these people?" asked Felix.

"These are the first recruits for Numa Orbis," Garave declared happily.

"Ahh, I see," said Felix. "Then this is more than a personal visit. You've come to discuss the Deo Clan's support."

"Sharp as ever."

"Well my offer was a simple one," said Felix. "Because I've known you so long, if you can manage to take out the bandits then I'd be willing to discuss how much support we're willing to give."

"Yup, I did that. They're right here," said Garave.

Felix peered behind Garave again. 'I think you misunderstood the concept of 'Take Out'. When we last saw them, they had been running low on food and it was only a matter of time before we ourselves caught them. Now they look replenished and what's more you can't expect to have bandits in your guild and ask us for support. If that's the case, I should have asked another guild to handle this problem."

"The nerve," said Marix. "To come here and not even accomplish such a simple feat. You can't really call yourself much of a guild master can you?"

His beaming smile still intact, Garave said, "You asked me to take care of the bandit problem Felix. I did. They can't be bandits if they're mages."

Felix furrowed his brow in thought. And then gave in with a sigh. "You crafty old man. Come inside and we'll talk."

"Hahaha. You're older than me Felix," laughed Garave.

"No way!" shouted Marix. "I refuse to believe that you're gonna allow the clan to be thrown in the same boat as a bunch of bandits."

"Alright. I've had enough of you!" shouted Mun. "You think you're hot shit. I'll wipe the smile off your face in an instant."

"Bring it trash."

Mun darted passed Garave toward Marix immediately. With aimed for Marix's midsection with a swipe of his hand. Only to find Marix had already jumped up and using the momentum to drop a kick on Mun's head.

As the leg dropped, it became coated in electricity, hammering into Mun's shoulder.

"See, trash," smirked Marix.

The cocky mage had all, but turned away from Mun on the floor before Mun spun into a sweeping kick.

The gap in training became evident quickly as the lightning mage dodged on instinct, charged his left with lightning and aimed to drive it into Mun's chest.

There was an explosion of electricity which cracked part of the wall behind them and blew back Garave's mages. When the dust cleared, Marix's hand was resting in Garave's palm.

"Felix, how about a bet?" he asked his eyes never leaving Marix.

"I'm listening," responded the older Deo.

"It's clear you all have some reservations about my mages. So here's a proposition. In 3 days time, let's have these two young mages fight again. If we win, you provide your full support. If we lose, then you can expect to never hear from us again."

Garave's words left everyone around them in shock, before Felix burst out in laughter. "You've got a deal, Garave. Let's go Marix."

The younger Deo took his leave as well, barely even looking back at the group.

"Well that was fun," said Garave. "Let's go back shall we."

"This is funny to you!" yelled Mun. "You crappy old man. I don't know how, but you saw this coming. Why else would you bring us here like this?"

"I didn't know," said Garave calmly. "But I had a feeling. I've known Felix a long time and while he's one of the kindest clan mages I've ever met, even he can't shake that ingrained nature of looking down on people. When he and I first met, he looked down on me like I was trash too. That's right. I was from the gutter, just like you. I've never had fancy things in my life. I've had to work for everything I've got. So yes, I had a feeling your temper would open this opportunity. The Deo clan was likely to only give us minimal support, but you've given us a means of gaining much more."

"So you used me? Us?!" screamed Mun.

Garave's eyes had a warm, but distant look in his eyes. "We're building a country that will look after all it's people. With that in mind. I will never ask more than what you're capable of and I will never wager your life against that goal. That boy meant to kill you with that punch, which is why I intervened. Because before we are a country, we are a guild and we will be a guild which looks after one another."

Mun was still fuming with anger, but there was always something in the way Garave spoke, that made him see his own faults. He had assumed Garave was a noble, but was wrong. He had believed he could fight and protect his people, but he was wrong. And just then his anger got the best of him and he attacked, all on his own.

"Now get up, because in three days' time, you will stand as an equal to him," declared Garave.

* * *

 **December 16th, X575, Lira**

The last two days, saw Mun and his guild mates put through rigorous physical training. Rayna had displayed a level of physical mastery beyond what this training would yield, so Garave had her procuring goods from the town that they'd need.

But the real reason Garave had so much faith in Mun, was because it always felt like the young man was brimming with potential. Like a raw uncut diamond. Even now, he was putting in triple the effort of his comrades. Garave had set tasks for them to complete and Mun had taken the initiative to go above and beyond. So in two days time worth of training and meditation, his body was more intune with magic than ever before. His signature slicing technique had become even more formidable.

But what was most impressive to Garave was how far Mun had come when Garave explained to him what his magic really comprised itself of. He had fooled himself into thinking it was based around air, because that was what he had read. But in reality it was a compression magic. The slicing technique was the most common for mages using this magic, because air is the most abundantly available thing to compress. However, compression has vast applications far beyond cutting air. It was impressive even to find a mage compatible with the magic.

But Garave had explained just how far the application of compression could go and Mun clung to it like a sponge.

They discussed how Marix was likely to fight during the match and ways to exploit his hubris. Garave had watched his tendencies and all that was left was to simply practice natural counters to whatever martial arts Marix had.

* * *

 **December 17th, X575, Lira**

The group arrived at the Deo Clan's main house and were escorted inside to a small sparring ground where Marix and Felix were already waiting.

"I hope you don't need any intervention this time," said Marix.

"Don't worry about me. I hope all this fancy money can buy you a good doctor," spit out Mun.

Felix called for the match to begin and Marix shot forward lightning having already engulfed his arms. Mun sidestepped the attack only to find Marix had already begun spinning into a kick. The force of the kick sent Mun flying into the wall before sinking to the ground.

"Pfft. Trash will be trash I guess," teased Marix.

"Thunder volley!" grunted Marix as little orbs took shape in his hands. He then hurled them at a Mun, forcing the compression mage to leap to the side and then begin running to avoid the rest.

"He's gotten much faster in 3 days," said Felix. "I hope that's not all he's got."

Marix continued flinging the tiny orbs of electricity as he jumped about the sparring grounds.

"He won't be able to put up much of a fight if he wastes all his energy darting about the arena," Rayna said calmly.

"Don't worry," said Garave as he looked over at Marix. "He's not the only person getting tired.

Mun thought back to his training with Garave. Garave had let him in on some of the techniques Felix used to use. If he saw this volley technique he was supposed to keep his distance. Garave had also mentioned that Marix thought of Mun as trash and this was in Mun's favor. Once he had Mun on the run with the volley, he'd probably keep at it until he felt his own power dwindle once that happened, it was Mun's turn.

"The old man's spot on so far," thought Mun. Just as he finished that thought, Marix held back the last volley and a grimace covered his face.

With no time wasted, Mun turned on his heel and faced Marx. "Compression Step!" he howled. The muscles in his feet compressed for a second and as they released he cleared the arena with his fist readied. Mun's collided with Marix and sent him crashing into the wall behind.

All the mages in the room other than Garave had looks of shock on their face. Garave's expression was one of pride.

Marix struggled to his feet and found that Mun was already pressing forward. He swept at Marix's legs forcing the lightning mage to jump, but Mun had hopped from the ground up to meet Marix and planted an uppercut on Marix's jaw.

Marix lay on the ground for a second. Garave had explained that compression magic could be used to explosively increase his speed and strength if he compressed his own muscles. All that was left was to deal with a flustered Marix.

The lightning mage got to his feet and angrily charged at Mun. Mun ducked the incoming right fist and buried a fist in his gut.

Unable to focus, Marix began swinging blindly with each blow getting easily deflected. He'd go in for a kick, be pushed off and receive a kick in return. Each of his punches were failing to land and he was expending even more energy by trying to put lightning behind them.

"No!" he yelled. "Trash is trash!"

He began building more and more energy up and soon formed it into a halberd ready to throw.

Mun shook his head in disbelief. It was almost spooky how right Garave had been. He thought back to how Garave said when he's at the end of his rope, he'll try and win with a flashy display of power. When that happens, Mun would have to counter with a technique of his own. One he surely didn't have enough time to master for full combat, but one he could surely pull off standing still.

Nonetheless he stood ready and then Marix hurled the halberd at blinding speed towards Mun. Mun readied himself, took a deep breath, compressed the muscles in his arm and then swung. "Compression Strike!"

The force of the punch canceled out the halberd and left Marix dumbfounded. Before he could react. Mun used his 'Compression Step' to get within striking distance and aimed a punch for Marix.

Before it landed, Felix stepped in and caught it, but Marix fainted from exhaustion. He had a huge grin of his own on his face. "Well fought, young mage. Well fought," he said. "You all win this fight."

The mages of Numa Orbis erupted in cheers as Garave stepped down beside Mun, ruffling his hair before looking at him with pride. "Nicely done Mun."

"You think he's learned his lesson?" Garave asked.

"I hope so," said Felix. "I didn't know if you'd pull it off, but I sure hoped you would. Damn son of mine needed his bell rung a few times to get off that high horse."

"Guilds all around Alakitasia believe strength is only in the mages from clans. But real strength comes from perseverance."

"Ahh and speaking of clans, let's go discuss what was promised."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Special Thanks to Watson and Dread for all their help.

 **OC Info: If I portray your OC poorly, please tell me.**

Mary Allen: Rayna Zell

 **Review Section**

Black Falcoln: Really glad you're along for this story. And yup, we'll get to that mage eventually.

WarMachine375: We spoke a little about this, but yeah. I think Emperor Jorun's left sour taste in a lot of people's mouths. And all of the fallout from his decision will be a huge driving force in the story.

Mary Allen: Glad to have your OC and to have a new reader.

Watson: Yup. I have no self control. Haha.

Dread: Mhmm, I was coming up with ideas and before I knew it I had enough for a short chapter planned out.

Thanks again to everyone.


	3. But I'm The Greatest

**December 21st, X575, Lira, Numa Orbis Hillside**

Numa Orbis had been mostly focused on building the place they would one day call home since Mun defeated Marix and earned them the Deo Clan's support. The notion of a clan swearing itself to a start up guild was entirely unheard of. This was likely the reason Felix Deo hadn't offered full support to Garave in the first place, but with the wager set Felix couldn't help, but honor the agreement. So in the days since, Felix and the Deo clan had publicly announced to the town of Lira that they fully supported the guild Numa Orbis. The news spread through the town like wildfire as the Deo, but Felix stayed firm to his decision by declaring he believed Numa Orbis would bring unimaginable prosperity to Lira. With that, Numa Orbis had won over the town's support, at least on the surface.

Numa Orbis's guild hall was still not anywhere near complete, but the surge of materials and support over the last few days had at least allowed them to get the structure up. No more than a mess of beams and supports, but it was something. Things were going well, so well that Garave couldn't help, but sulk. In his life, when things were going too well they were sure to turn around soon.

But the old man didn't even have time to really think about any problems that might pop up as Mun was back at his antics again. His victory over Marix was well earned, but in the end it just inflated his usual cockiness, even to the point where his former bandit comrades were beginning to roll their eyes at his every word. Over the last few days he didn't possess even a fraction of his former zeal for training.

Mun had just finished placing an old heavy oak door at the would be entrance, but found the feat to outstanding to let pass, "I'm really amazing you know," he chuckled as he nudged the mage who had been helping him.

"Yeah Mun?" they sighed before sarcastically adding. "You're the best."

Now despite Mun's elevated ego, he wasn't so stuck in the clouds that he couldn't notice sarcasm.

"Hey, what's your problem?" he asked.

The break in the flow of things instantly drew everyone's attention. Even Garave was curious how the situation might unfold. Despite all of the bandits joining the guild, it was clear that in a way some of them still looked to Mun as their leader and there was no telling when they'd break out of that shell and see that they were all equal members of the guild.

"U-uh, nothin-" the mage stammered.

"Listen," began Mun. "If you've got a problem with me, we can settle it the way we always used to settle things. We duke it out until we get our points across."

But that wasn't an option. That was never really an option for Mun's Bandits. He took care of them, he looked after them and kept them fed and alive. But Mun's word was always final. That tradition had started when they were young, but quickly grew into more of a threat as Mun got much stronger than his fellow bandits. With his sudden increase in strength, it was only worse.

"Or are you too afraid since I'm the strongest in the guild?" Mun arrogantly chuckled.

The old master had heard enough, strength without humility for too long and Mun was sure to end up like Marix. But before he could step up to say anything. The bandit turned mage managed to string together the words and courage to break his own silence.

"You're not!" he yelled startling even himself.

Everyone looked at him in shock unsure of what would happen next, but if there was a proper way to dispel the situation and maintain the status quo, Mun didn't know it.

The compression mage burst out in laughter. "I'm not what," he laughed. "The strongest? Then who the hell is? Pops doesn't count, so who could possibly be stronger? Who else could have beaten Marix?"

His laughter pushed his friend even further over the edge, "Rayna is!" he shouted once more.

This drove Mun to near hysteria as he was keeled over on the floor stuck between a mix of laughter and gasps for air.

"What's so funny about that!?" the mage yelled. "I'm sure she could beat Marix and she could definitely beat you!"

His words had no effect on Mun who was still stuck in a fit of laughter.

His laughter spurred on the rest of the Numa Orbis mages though until eventually all of the former bandits were saying things similar to the first one.

"You can be a real jerk Mun."

"You think you're stronger than Rayna?"

"Why do you think she's in town right now instead of you?"

"If it weren't for all of us, we could have never managed to rob her in the first place."

For mages to stand as equals it was important for them to resolve issues like this, if this was what it took for Mun to wake up and see that his friends and guild mates were trying in their own way and he was looking down on them, then so be it. And so Garave sat in silence.

But it was Rayna, Felix and Marix's appearance which really made things spiral out of control. Over the last few days Master Garave had taken to asking Rayne to run errands for him that he didn't feel the bandits would have been suited for just yet. Rayna had to individually thank the households throughout the town of Lira. Garave felt it would be more meaningful if a mage went instead of the him, but he couldn't send Mun and his comrades for something like this when it had been them stealing things. Numa Orbis needed to build up good relationship with the people.

But that small amount of dependance had quickly grown to where Garave was trusting her with things like tracking down Felix to have him acquire ink for guild marks or arranging for supplies from shop owners.

However, Rayna's arrival quickly composed Mun. He hopped to his feet and stormed passed his guild mates and straight up to the brunette as she was talking to the master.

"Did you manage to get everything arranged?" asked Garave.

"Yes master," began Rayna as she handed over the stamp for guild marks. "Here's the guild stamp and the local shop owners are looking forward to our assistance with a myriad of things."

She was quick and efficient and Garave couldn't be more pleased.

"And you've managed to get Felix here," said Garave. "Well don-"

"Rayna!" Mun yelled. "Will you tell these jokers here who is stronger between us?"

Mun was still all smiles as he waited for her answer.

"I am," she said shortly.

"See! I told you all, I'm stron- Wait what?"

"Master, the baker and butcher mentioned they'd be willing to send over food from a local transport if we could meet it halfway and escor-"

Rayna was cut off, by Mun's hand landing on her shoulder. "Hey, what the hell do you mean? You saw my fight with that jackass. You couldn't possibly think you'd stand a chance."

Her dark green eyes burned into his before darting down to the hand on her shoulder. As if on instinct he removed it.

"Don't touch me," she said calmly. "And what I said was simple. I'm stronger than you. You won a single fight, with the help of the master. He nearly mapped out exactly what you could do to pull out a victory. It's impressive that you managed to accomplish it, but the feat loses its value when you act like you're better than those around."

She pointed over to Marix and continued, "The fact of the matter is, he isn't strong."

Behind her, Marix could be heard scoffing, but he was quickly silenced by Felix.

"You listen to what she's saying to," said Felix.

"He left far too many openings and was too easily riled up to be taken seriously as an opponent. When you're on your own in a real fight, mistakes like that will get you killed."

"Haha! Well said Rayna. Well said," cheered Garave.

Mun didn't like it. It was an inescapable trait of his that had been fostered over years of protecting those around him. For him, it was a sin against everything he believed in for someone to look down on him. Even though Rayna was merely stating what she knew, that point was lost on Mun, whose pride was often his worst enemy.

"Fight me," he growled.

"Fine. Can we?" she asked of Master Garave.

Garave didn't like the idea of his mages fighting, but he supposed there was no harm in a light spar.

"Fine, but make it quick so I can give out the guild marks," said Garave.

Mun and Rayna, stood some distance apart from one another in the field as they readied to fight.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" yelled Mun.

His taunt earned no response from Rayna as she simply pulled forth her bow.

With that the match had begun, Mun charged at Rayna as she fired several arrows in his direction. The barrage sent him running along the edge of the field while still closing in on Rayne.

"Water bow!" called Rayna. This summoned a bow with a bluish hue. As Mun closed in she continued to fire, but most of her shots were easily dodged as they were aimed low enough to sidestep. Each shot exploded into a burst of water as it stabbed the ground. They continued this pattern for a short period of time, all the while Rayna continued to retreat and pepper arrows of water.

"Ha! And here I thought you were gonna be a good shot or something. I'll end this to save you the embarrassment." taunted Mun as he stomped through the now muddy field.

He came to a stop and tensed the muscles in his feet as he prepared to use his Compression Step.

"Smoke bow!"

"Compression Step!"

In a flash Mun cleared all the distance to where Rayna was, but quickly found himself in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell?! Where is she?" screamed Mun.

In the instant before he stepped towards her, she had switched bows and unleashed smoke, that was all Mun was sure of, but now she was nowhere to be found. However, her next words were clear as day to him as it came from above.

"Lightning arrow," she called and shortly thereafter, she rained down a flurry of lightning.

With the field muddy there was nowhere to run and Mun's screams could be heard within the smoke immediately. Rayna dispelled her magic before landing and put away her bow. A short distance away, lay a bruised and beaten Mun.

Rayna walked over to check on her opponent. "You played me?" asked Mun.

"Yes," said Rayne. "I used the smoke to get above you."

"And the water arrows were for the field, you were just stringing me along?"

"That is correct," she began. "You still need to be a stand still to properly use your compression movement. That makes you easy to predict and once you're moving, you lose sight of the opponent for a gap wide enough to make a blind spot."

"Ugh," he sighed.

"You need to understand the world you stepped into. There's a difference between knowing magic and fighting as a mage. The people you're gonna face have been practicing magic like it was an extension of themselves all their lives. For you to believe you had already reached that level of strength is disrespectful. You need more training,"

" _The world I stepped into?"_ thought Mun. _"Is the gap so large between me and people like Rayna and Marix. How much further is the old man?"_

The shock of the electricity was slowly wearing off and Mun was able to get into a sitting position.

He groaned in aggravation before calling out to Garave. "Ugh. I messed up pops."

"That's for sure," laughed Garave.

The master grabbed the stamp and dipped it in black ink before pressing it against his left shoulder.

A spiral of circles now rested on his shoulder. "If you're gonna wear this mark, then know this. All who wear this mark are equal as members. Your strength doesn't make your thoughts and feelings anymore true than the next person."

Garave's words were meant for all of the mages there, but Mun took it as a reminder. Strength didn't give him the right to trample over his comrades. It was supposed to be to protect them and he'd have a lot of work ahead of him before he could make up for his behavior.

Garave began placing the marks once he heard what colors everyone wanted.

"Blue for you, Green for you, Red for you."

This went on for a few minutes, but when all was said and done, the spiral of circles could be seen on all the mages of Numa Orbis. A black mark for the master, Dark green for Rayna, Red for both of the Deo present with Blue for Mun. But not to be outdone by the other, both Mun and Marix got theirs directly over their hearts before arguing over who chose the spot first.

* * *

 **December 25st, X575, On the road to Lira**

The sun rose over the plains leading to Lira's outskirts found 2 young mages. Both were busy packing up their camp to make the last leg of their long journeys. Until two days before they hadn't ever met each other, but after stumbling across one another and awkwardly walking the same path for the better part of a day, the young woman became quite curious as to why the man seemed to be going in the same direction as she was.

That awkward conversation turned out revealing that they were both on their way to Lira. They had been traveling on their own for weeks now, when each of them had heard rumor about a guild gaining the backing of the Deo Clan and Lira's people.

Southern Alakitasia's clans were mostly already devoted to some guild or another, so when any of the holdouts decided to join a clan it was huge new. But the rumor which was spreading through South was much more than just a clan joining. Garave made sure to pass on that the Deo's were giving their full support to the new guild, for lack of a better expression they'd sworn themselves to the guild. That was what was really stirring up interest in Southern Alakitasia.

Both the man and woman ended up revealing to one another that they wanted to see the guild for themselves and so they ended up being travel companions. The woman's name was Lamily Larentia, a young brunette who was light and delicate, but still managed to have a tiny scars here and there from what one could only assume was training. Her nearly yellow, hazel eyes carried a soft fierceness to them and her face was almost heart shaped with a small upturned nose and thin lips. She specialized in impulsiveness. The entirety of her journey was brought on by impulsiveness, so it was with relative ease that she accepted Mason Blight, her companion and a complete stranger's, offer to travel together. The handsome Mason Blight on the other hand was surprisingly a pure guy, whose intentions had been clear and true from the moment they met. He stood just under 6 feet and kept his long brown hair in a ponytail. He was lean and seemed to be without blemish or fault in every way and most women ended up lost in his purple eyes.

As they packed up their supplies they got dressed on either side of a nearby cluster of boulders. Lamily threw on her brown waistcoat with gold buttons over her long-sleeved white blouse. It paired nicely with her white pleated skirt with gold trim, stockings, and brown knee high lace-up boots. While Mason was in the process of adjusting his white button up long sleeved shirt. He tucked it into a pair of black pants with a black belt as he simultaneously tied his light blue cravat around his neck. He slipped on his dark forest green noblemen jacket and white gloves and finished off the outfit with a pair of black boots.

Afterwards he could be seen looking himself over in the stream which ran all the way through Lira. "Are you ready yet?" Lamily called. She'd quickly grown accustomed to how much effort Mason put into his appearance, but Lira was close and she wanted to get there today. "We're so close, we might make it by nightfall if we hurry"

"I'm coming. I'm coming," he called, giving his cravat one last look over.

"No need to rush," he added. "We'll definitely get there by night."

The little brunette hopped up and down in excitement and with that the pair was off. Neither of them had ever been to Lira, but they were following directions that were simple enough. Follow the stream to Lira.

And so as the day dragged on, the mages were getting more and more excited. Each of them sharing little bits about what they thought a guild that could pull the Deo's support was like until they happened across a fork in the stream.

"What do we do?" asked Mason.

"We could just pick one," said Lamily.

"Of course, but what happens if it's the wrong one?"

"What's the worst that could happen?!" she laughed as she pulled Mason along the path to the right.

* * *

 **December 27st, X575, Lira, Numa Orbis Hillside**

The guild was slowly coming together. The large oak doors opened into what would one day be the main room of the guild. It was a large lounge-like room which would house things like a bar, a small eating area and whatever else the mages of Numa Orbis wanted as time went one. It was currently the only semi-completed room in the building. Its walls were carved from large trees in the woods and the basic gas lamps were donated to the guild by a few people from in the town.

In the center of the room was currently a large table and at it, sat Master Garave and the mages of Numa Orbis. Marix was sent in Felix's place as the clan head had important matters to attend to of his own. It was early, but he'd called the meeting because he felt it was finally time to discuss the finer points of Numa Orbis' objective. So despite everyone being nearly asleep at this point, the meeting got underway.

"Alright, we'll begin our first official guild meeting," boomed Garave who was quickly met with half hearted cheers.

"Our first priority is ensuring that the people of Lira and the surrounding areas trust us. The goal from here forward is to build a country which the people can safely call their own so before we can even think of calling some place ours, we have to make sure that we're who the people want."

It was a poor choice of time for a meeting most of the information was falling on deaf ears, but luckily there was at least one mage who was on their toes.

Rayna, was just as tired as the rest of them, but what was going to be discussed was important to why they should even want to be Numa Orbis mages. She slammed her fist down on the table, jarring everyone from their sleep instantly. "You were saying master."

Garave looked over the mages, they had a lot of work ahead of them, but he was already looking at them like family. "3 years ago, a single mage broke the deadlock between Emporer Jorun's Knights. In a single night they laid waste to the notion that only the noble can rule over the weak. In that mage's shadow, guilds rose up, alliances were formed, nations of all sizes took shape and in the smoke of that day, the Knights fell in power. 2 of them were forced to abandon their hopes for conquest altogether leaving places like Lira all to themselves for a time."

"However!" roared Garave. "That won't be forever, the 5 knights that remain are more fearsome than anything you could imagine and they will bring war to every corner of Alakitasia if that's what it takes. But they're flawed. They believe that they'll win in the end by simply subjugating as many powerful mages as they can. That's why they go for the clans first. The real strength is in the people! If the people are on our side, then not even the knights can stop us. This is the road to building a country for the people!"

"Yeah!" shouted Mun, much to everyone's surprise. "Uh- I mean yeah, that's true."

Most of the mages were stifling laughter while Rayna simply shook her head and groaned.

Even Garave was a little shocked, but he quickly caught himself. "Exactly!" he shouted. "That's the fire we need. Now. First things first, proving ourselves to the people."

He gestured to Rayna and the young mage stood to her feet. "Our first priorities will be handling a few minor tasks that the townspeople have already asked about. There won't be much pay, if any for these first jobs. You'll have to grin and bear it. There's also the sign at the fork in the stream to fix."

"What happened to the sign?" asked Garave.

Rayna looked over at Mun and said, "Supposedly bandits had torn down the sign a couple weeks ago and if you were to take the path to the right, you could very well fall into the sinkholes there."

Garave's eyes burned a hole in Mun at this point. "You jackasses vandalized a sign?" he asked as if he was unsure if the idea made any sense at all to him.

"We're changed mages now pops," answered one of the former bandits. The words had barely left his lips before a book was flying at him.

"Go fix it!" yelled Garave forcing a couple mages to run out of the guild immediately.

"Losers," scoffed Marix.

"We also have to get Sir Felix to rescind the offer for the bounties on our, 'bandits'," added Rayna.

"Wait?! That's still active," began Garave.

He looked over at Marix and yelled, "What the hell are you still doing here? You heard her. Go tell Felix about the bounties immediately."

"Yeah, Yeah. I'll get th-," was all Marix managed before he was booted out the front door.

"Anything else to report?" asked Garave.

But before Rayna could answer, there was a slight knock on the door and two brunettes stood in the doorway covered in bruises and with tears in their clothes.

"See I told you we'd make it," giggled the woman.

"Yeah Lamily, it's easy to say that after we escaped the sinkholes isn't it," the man responded.

The pair could feel the eyes on them, so they quickly dusted themselves off and began introductions.

"Hi, I'm Lamily and this is Mason," said the girl. "And this is Numa Orbis, right?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Well that's finished. I'm really happy with all the support this is getting. I'm hoping to get more updates out coming this week. Submissions are filling up, so that's another plus. There's a really rough map on my deviantart. As some of you know, I try to post relevant stuff to the stories over there. It's under the name Origm2012, so look it up if you're interested. The map currently only shows a few basic mountains and Lira's location. It also has the borders of the knights on it. I'll be adding to it over time as I get more info verified from creators for it.

Huge thanks to Watson and Dread.

 **Credits:** Be sure to tell me if I'm misrepresenting your OC.

Mason Blight - reven228

Lamily Larentia - RedMoonRabbit

 **Review Responses:** You guys seem to like this, so I'll try and keep it up.

1) Reven222 - Really appreciate all the support. It's really nice to see some of the older names I know from when I started Brightholt. Hope you liked Mason's intro.

2) Black Falcoln - Glad you liked the magic. I was torn between a few options for him. That relationship between Mun and Garave is pretty fun to write since Garave is the master, but for Mun he's almost a little more than that. Thanks for coming back.

3) Piece of Sheet - Wow! That's really kind of you. I hope I can live up to the compliments there. Compression magic is what I settled on for Mun and I'll get to enjoy writing out his attempts at mastering it and his failures.

4) RedMoonRabbit - Glad you found this story. Hopefully I didn't disappoint with Lamily's intro. You can be sure she'll get more time on screen as I really like her.

5) Mary Allen - I will be trying to update faster in the future, sorry about the little delay going into this one. I was actually mostly blocked on deciding Rayna's fight with Mun. So hopefully that turned out well.

6) Warmachine375 - Glad you're enjoying the story. I think more than anybody, I'm looking forward to the clans. There's gonna be a lot, so it's good you're excited for it.

7) Ogrespi - When I first started writing here many people were kind to me in helping me learn to write better. That's still my goal and will always remain my intention so you can be sure I'll always take your criticism kindly. Feel free to critique when I go astray. Thanks again for coming back.

8) Tomanyideas - Well I'm glad you decided to send in an OC, I'm looking forward to writing them. Thanks again.

9) Outcast001 - You're always a pleasant surprise. I honestly didn't think I'd see you here. I'm still fiddling around with dynamics in my plans, but I think... emphasis on think, that I've got a feel for who's been revealed thus far. Thanks for coming over to Fairy Tail for a bit.

 **Thanks again to everyone for reading.**


	4. At Least They're Trying

**December 30th, X575, Lira, Outside Deo Clan Main House**

"Fucking Numa Orbis. Thinking their so cool. Just what the hell is going on?!"

Marix Deo could be heard by most everyone around him as he walked from the clan's main house to the Numa Orbis guild house. He spent most mornings nowadays walking from his home to the guild house. His guild house. He wasn't pleased with his loss, but it would have been an even bigger slight to his honor if he didn't help keep up the bargain. But again, that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. He made sure to let everyone know his displeasure with the current circumstances.

"First I lose to that trash, then that Green eyed bitch disrespects me And the whole time, father is just smiling! What's happening?!"

He was jarred from his thoughts at the sight of his fellow guildmates. Some of the former bandits were scurrying about and at this hour in the morning it looked suspicious to Marix.

" _What are they up to?"_ he thought. _"They're probably stealing again! But wait this is good? Isn't it. If I catch them stealing then everything old man Garave said should be null and void and I can take off this damn guild mark!"_

And with that Marix was on their tail. He didn't care what it was, he just wanted them to do something, anything bad, for him to have reason to take them out.

He followed them for what must have felt like eternity, as the brunette was quickly getting impatient. He followed them to the bakery and waited for them to steal food, but they spent an hour fixing the oven. He followed them to the blacksmith and waited for them to steal weapons, but they helped rekindle his fire. He followed them to the florist and waited for them to steal even flowers, but before he knew it they had on aprons and were helping set plots for new seeds.

" _What the actual hell is going on?"_ he thought in disbelief. "Just commit a crime!" he yelled from behind a bush.

Just as the words escaped his mouth, his hand clasped over it as if he was trying to pull them back.

"You guys hear something?" he heard a bandit ask.

"Must be the wind?" Another answered.

"Or the old man yelling again," laughed another.

"Oh shit. You're right. Let's hurry up, I don't want to get hit again," chimed one more.

Marix watched as they earnestly completed their work and it left a sour feeling with him. Were they really turning over a new leaf. Them? They were bandits just a few weeks ago, but now they were model citizens. Now he was just casually following them back through the woods to the guild house. He had all, but given up when he heard one of them say, "Hey, we've got time let's try and sneak one in."

A sly smile crackled up onto Marix's face. He had them. Whatever it was, he was ready to pounce. He peaked from behind his tree to find them all calmly sitting.

" _They can't be serious…"_ he thought. _"They're just meditating. I give up."_

"Hey, it's not working," said one of the bandits.

"What do you mean?" asked another.

"I'm missing something. I'm calm and composed, but I can't remember what the old man usually says to do at this point."

"Breathe from your core you idiots!" yelled Marix.

"Oh duh. That is what he says," said the bandit. "Thanks."

"I didn't say that," said another bandit.

"Me neither," added the other.

But before they could question it any further, Master Garave could actually be heard yelling in the distance.

"Oh crap, let's go," barked the bandit as they all got up and ran towards the guild.

"That was a close one," sighed Marix.

Marix arrived at the guild a few minutes later only to be met with a cold stare from Rayna.

"You were supposed to be here hours," she said flatly.

"Well shit happens," he shot back.

"Yes. Yes it does," she added as she pointed to Garave glaring behind him.

" _Why is this happening to me?"_ thought Marix later as he hammered in a beam with one hand and held ice on his head with the other.

* * *

 **December 30th, X575, Lira, Numa Orbis**

Lamily Larentia had been speaking with Garave inside the guild for quite some time on the day she arrived while the others waited. Long enough to make the other's curious about what could be so important, but when she came out she was all smiles and happily sporting the white spiral on her wrist. And now she was happily working alongside her guildmates. She had come to Numa Orbis to find out what kind of guild had popped up here, but finding them in the state they were in was too exciting to ignore. With the main room of Numa Orbis up, for the most part, Garave thought it might be good for the mages to have at least some semblance of personal space. So they had gotten to work on the dormitory meant to be built around Numa Orbis.

"Thanks again for offering to help me," smiled Lamily as she lugged over a series of beams.

Following Mun's own debacle he was actively trying to be welcoming to the new mages. Even going so far as to actively break the awkwardness of strangers suddenly becoming comrades by casually asking them where it was they thought they might want to build their rooms.

"Mhmm," was all he managed with slight bobbles of his head. Despite wanting to be helpful, Mun hadn't thought he'd end up alone with Lamily. All his loudmouth antics aside, Mun was never able to get passed hello with women he didn't know. He could never break the ice.

Not being as innocent as she seemed, Lamily didn't miss a beat. "Everything ok?" she asked as she pulled up next to Mun.

Mun felt his heartbeat triple. If he could just break the ice, if he could just find some common ground all his nervousness would disappear.

"Hey. You're not looking too good," Lamily added on. She had her hand against his forehead as if she was checking for a fever. "Do you wanna take a break?"

"Yes!" he barked out immediately and with that he darted out the room.

"Hehe, that was fun. Back to work now I guess."

On the outside of the guild Mason was hard at work looking over the plans that Rayna and Garave had detailed so far.

" _It's impressive,"_ thought Mason. _"There's probably some areas we can smooth out a bit, but this is all really promising."_

Within a few days he and Rayna had managed to revamp the plans and seemed to be working at an even higher proficiency. So much so that Garave had to tell the two of them to tone down the pace. When questioned as to why, he simply pointed over to the pile of exhausted sprawled out on the grass.

"Your work ethic is truly commendable," said Rayna. "I find it hard to believe that Numa Orbis was the first guild that you stumbled upon."

"Well," began the brunette. "I wasn't actually planning on joining a guild, but the news of Numa Orbis reached the town I was passing through and the people were discussing all sorts of things. But the only thought I had on my mind was how dangerous this is for the South.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"The South has been able to stay untouched for a short while, but a guild rising up here is gonna draw attention and with that, war."

It hadn't occurred to Rayna that the news of the guild spreading was reaching so far and fast.

" _If the guild is drawing attention like that at this pace, it son't be long before other guilds or alliances come looking for us,"_ thought Rayna.

"But all my concerns weren't needed I guess," added Mason, bring Rayna back from her thoughts.

"Why those seem like valid concerns?" asked Rayna.

"When he was speaking with me separately," began Mason. "I brought up my concerns and he showed me he already knew. He has correspondence letters from an ally a little North, detailing reactions from local guilds and alliances."

"There are so many clans, guilds and alliances. If we lag behind for too long we'll be overtaken before we even get started," said Rayna.

"I haven't been here long, but I don't feel that way. Somehow, it feels like if we stay the course and work together, Numa Orbis might actually achieve that peace."

* * *

 **December 31st, X575, Lira, Numa Orbis**

Several of the mages of Numa Orbis had been sent into town to complete work as per usual, however they had failed to show up. As a result, Rayna had been sent to find them. Lamily had decided to tag along as well and Mun was worried about his friends. The only real confusion was why Marix had insisted he come along.

"Why the hell are you coming?" Mun called back to Marix.

"Because I can asshole!" Marix yelled back.

The two continued their back and forth all the way into town, until Rayna turned on them both. With little more than a glare, they both stopped talking.

"Oooh, that was cool. How's it work?" laughed Lamily.

"Just look at them like they're already dead and they get the message usually."

Lamily instantly turned around to send a glare at Mun and Marix, but it fell flat as Mun's face turned a bright red and Marix burst into laughter at the failed aggression.

"Oops, guess it needs some work."

"Do I need to remind you all we're here to find our comrades?" asked Rayna, instantly pulling everyone back into focus. "We'll split up into pairs to look for them. Lamily and I, Marix and Mun."

It took less than a moment for Marix and Mun to formulate protests and even less time for Rayna to shut them down. With that both pairs were off throughout town.

Marix and Mun walked in silence for some time. Each one occasionally glancing at the other and turning away immediately before they both ended up whispering to themselves, "How'd I end up with this jackass?"

They were primed and ready to turn on each other, but the thought of Rayan catching them stopped them right away.

Not wanting to get sidetracked any longer Mun said, "Let's just find them and get back so we don't have to be around each other. I think they're supposed to have been by the carpenter's office."

"No that's not right. Today they had the florist again," said Marix.

After a little thought, Mun agreed. Then his agreement hit him like a ton of bricks. "How do you know where they're supposed to be?!"

"Maybe I just pay more attention than you do?!" yelled Marix. "They're your friends. You should at least not lose them!"

There was silence between the two of them for a bit before they both headed towards the florist's shop. The owner hadn't seen them all day and was worried themselves as they were looking forward to the bandits' return.

"Shit!" said Mun. "Where else could they be?"

"They also do some work for the blacksmith and the baker."

Not wanting to lapse into the same argument, they headed to both locations only to wind up empty handed again.

"What the hell is going on? They wouldn't just up and disappear like this?!" yelled Mun.

"It does seem odd," added Marix.

"Oh shut the hell up! What would you know about them?!"

Marix knew Mun was right, he didn't know them. He couldn't help, but acknowledge them trying, but even so he didn't know.

"It's hard not to notice them trying so hard," Marix added with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't like Mun, he didn't like Numa Orbis and he didn't care much for his fellow mages, but watching people try so hard for something just bugged him.

Lamily and Rayna had been searching to no avail as well. There was no one who had seen them all day. It was one thing for them to not do work, but for them to just vanish was impossible.

"Something isn't right here," said Lamily.

"I agree," said Rayna.

They'd stopped to think over on a park bench, when suddenly a voice behind them said,

"Everything alright?"

The smell of jasmine proceeded his silky voice.

Behind them stood a tall, elegantly dress man. Something about him made the simple dress pants and shoes seem more even more stylish than they were.

"You've been walking back and forth for quite some time," he added as he brushed the red hair out of his face. "Is there something I might be able to help you with?"

His every move was almost melodic, before they noticed he was sitting beside them and Rayna was explaining what had happened to them.

" _Something's not right,"_ thought Lamily. _"I don't know what it is, but something isn't right."_

"We should keep looking," said Lamily as she hopped to her feet and pulled Rayna along.

Rayna barely acknowledged her, but as Lamily walked away her senses seemed to clear up. Soon she and Rayna were running from where she'd been sitting as it was clear to her what had happened.

"What's going on?" asked Rayna as she shook off the grogginess she was feeling.

"You're back already Rayna? That's a relief," said Lamily as they came to a stop. "That man. He was using some type of manipulation based magic."

"How do you know?" asked Rayna.

"When it was going on, it felt like his magic was struggling to set in around my own emotion magic. But you regaining yourself so fast is perfect. I don't think it's a far cry to think he's involved with our friends' disappearances. Let's go back and get answers."

"No," said Rayna as she tried to catch her breath. She wasn't pleased with herself, for a mage to get the drop on her to that extent meant even she needed more training. "I'll got get Mun and Marix, you keep an eye on him as you seem to have an immunity of sorts to the magic."

Lamily kept her eyes glued to the man on the bench from afar. He seemed to be simply waiting. But waiting for what?

Within a few minutes Rayna arrived beside Lamily and explained how Marix and Mun were stationed around other the man from opposite sides in case he tried to run. They were gonna all close in on him and get answers one way or another.

"Geez!" called the man on the bench. "No need to get so serious. I surrender. I surrender."

The 4 mages were mostly in shock at being caught.

"If you meant to sneak up on me, then the two behind me shouldn't come seething like they want to kill me," the man added. "The name's Claude Cortis and I'll give you back your friends.

* * *

Author's Note:

Well first off. I wanted to say thanks to all the people who have supported me over the last two years. I know I'm a little late, but it really means a lot to me. I know this was shorter, but it felt like a good stopping point for now. Special thanks to Dread and Watson.

OC Credits: Be sure to tell me if I'm misrepresenting your OC.

Claude Cortis - Piece of Sheet

 **Review Responses:**

1) Outcast001 - Well then. I for one am happy to have you here. Hopefully I can keep that energy rolling for a long time.

2) Piece of Sheet - It was brief, but he's here now. Don't be afraid to tell me when I make a mistake with him. He's a fun OC. Thanks for reading.

3) TheLonelyAnon - Wow, another returning face. Thanks so much. Yup, there's plenty to learn and see as I've got so much planned out I can't wait to write it.

4) I said the same thing! I got so many brunettes I was wondering what happened to all the green haired double eye color OCs... haha.

5) Elegant Soul - Thanks for reading.

6) Black Falcoln - Yeah, I was wondering how people would take that. It's one of the reason I kept trying to emphasis full support. A lot of times, clans might work in a father-son fealty relationship. But occasionally a clan swears their entirety to some entity and in those cases they wear the mark.

7) Reven228 - You're always so kind. Thank you for the support.

8) RedMoonRabbit - Thank you very much for the tips. You don't know how much I appreciate that. I posted a whole rant about that topic of Info-dumppy intros a while back. I hear what you're saying and you're entirely correct, but I think it's a symptom of OC stories. I'd never dream of describing characters like that in a novel and so I should try to use that style here as well. In the past, less respectful creators would give issues over someone not describing everything they put in the form. As a response I think the block format came about. It isn't right and I'll be trying to break out of that bad habit now that I'm back and that it seems I have much more respectful readers. Hopefully I got Lamily correct this chapter, but feel free to correct me.

9) MyDearWatson - First off that's a cool name! I wonder? Have you ever read Sherlock Holmes or seen any of the shows. There's a cool character named Watson in there. I'm so happy you found the story. I'll try to keep the comedy at a high. Oh! It seems like you also write on this website. I'll be sure to check out your work. Thanks for stopping by.

10) Warmachine375 - You touched on a lot of things, so first off thanks for taking such a large interest in the story. A few people were under the impression that Mun would be the second in command or the strongest, but I wanted to write this scene the minute I got Rayna as an OC. I think there's something special to writing a guild story from scratch and the young lady who helped me when I first started writing on here was really good at making them and in a way inspired a sort of 'from scratch' guild.

 **Thanks again for reading. If you made it this far, pineapples.**


	5. Don't Test Me

**December 31st, X575, Lira, Numa Orbis**

Claude stood in the midst of the Numa Orbis mages, the slyest smile he could muster across his lips and as if it had nothing to do with him, he said, "What's all the fuss about anyway? It's not like I killed them?"

A rage washed over Mun and his body was moving before he knew it. He was running. Running at the man before him with nothing else in view.

"Water Bow!" yelled Rayna. Without hesitation she fired and all the mages watched as the arrow zipped by the mysterious mage called Claude and crashed into Mun, exploding on impact.

He was back on his feet instantly with his anger now aimed at Rayna.

"The hell is yo-"

"You were gonna kill him," began Rayna. "If he's dead, we may never find out where the others are."

The sound of Claude clapping quickly drew everyone's attention. "Excellent observation!" he exclaimed. "It's true. If I were to die, then your friends might not mak-"

He was cut off by an arrow whizzing by and slicing his cheek. "If they've been harmed. He won't be the one to worry about," said Rayna.

"Okay, okay. I get it," conceded Claude. He walked over to a nearby tree and called up into its branches. "Okay! Jump down!"

On his command the bandits of Numa Orbis leapt down, a glazed look still in their eyes.

"What did you do to them!" roared Mun as he ran over to his friends.

Are you Okay? Are you hurt? What he'd do to you?

Those were the question was asking as he darted from mage to mage, all the while never getting a response.

"I'll kill you!" he finally erupted.

"I wouldn't do that," Claude chuckled. "What's to say that my magic doesn't linger even after I've died?"

"He's right," said Lamily. "But you should undo your magic now before there's no stopping him."

With a shrug of defeat, he snapped his fingers and it was as if life had come back into their bodies.

"Where are we?" said one mage.

"What's going on?" came another.

There wasn't much time to question their surroundings before they were pulled into a crippling hug from Mun.

"You idiots really know how to make me worry," he sniffled. "I'll kill you the next time you make me worry like that."

Still dazed and confused, the mages looked around for a clue from the others as to what as going on.

"How can I sense them now?" asked Rayna. "I passed through here and not once did I notice their presence."

"I sort of suggested they conceal themselves," smirked Claude.

"There's no way around this now," began Rayna. "We'll have to take you to see the master."

"Yes, I belie-"

Claude was sent skidding across the ground.

Mun stood over him with his fist still tightened. He caught an annoyed glare from Rayna and said, "It's not like we need him awake to bring him to Pops."

* * *

 **December 31st, X575, Numa Orbis Guild Hall**

Claude awoke to the sound of hammers seemingly pounding all around him. At first he thought it was because he'd been punched and then he realized there were actual hammers at work around the building he was in.

His eyes eventually fixed on the person directly in front of him, Master Garave.

"I take it, your-"

"I didn't say you could speak," shot out the Master. "I don't take kindly to my people getting attacked. I never have. I worked as a mercenary in the empire's army for several years and had one of the highest mission completes to soldier survival rates in the entire army. I lost 3 men in the entirety of my service."

He could tell Claude was unsure of the reason behind the story so he gestured to reassure there was a point behind the story.

"1 mission. 3 soldiers. Fort Criser was said to be impenetrable. It was one of the last holdouts against the empire's rule. Countless sieges had ended in losses for the empire. Those men were on a simple scouting mission when they lost their lives. Their bodies were sent back to us in pieces. The next day, Fort Criser was found in ruin. I don't like when my people are attacked. It's never sat well with me. But in my old age, I've learned the value of approaching everything with a calm mind. So I'm gonna have you tell me what you were thinking."

"Well, to be honest-"

"And you can stop with the petty mind control magic. It's annoying me."

Claude's mouth hung open in shock for a moment before it turned into a smile which soon exploded in laughter.

"Then I guess I had no cause to worry," said Claude.

His words did little to move Garave, so Claude continued, "A guild popping up in the South and gaining a clan's backing, much less a clan led by a grand master, it draws a lot of attention. So I wanted to see for myself how well they fared against someone like myself. For the most part, I was unimpressed, other than little one with the pigtails who seems to be immune and the archer who I had little effect on, everyone else fell prey to me. Well, other than you of course."

"That's it…" began Garave. "You wanted to test your limits against the mages here."

Garave shook his head in frustration as he stood to his feet. "It's fools like you that give me cause for concern."

Magical energy had slowly begun to seep out of Garave and seemed to be building up. "Remember this well, for every mage you're stronger than, there is someone greater and even further beyond them still."

As he spoke the whole building shook, "Come with me."

Garave and Claude headed for the exit and found ladders strewn to the ground and mages flustered outside the guild hall.

"What the hell Pops?!" shouted Mun. "We thought it was an earthquake."

"If a little flare of magic like that worries you, then you have to train even more."

"This is Claude Cortis," Garave continued. "He'll be staying with us."

The announcement was met with outrage and shock, even from Claude.

"Old man, if that's a joke. It isn't funny," seethed Mun.

"Do you not know what he's capable of?" asked Marix. "He'll have us kill ourselves before the night's out."

"He's too dangerous," added Rayna.

"He's too dangerous to let roam free," said Garave. "He came here to make a point about our strength and weakness, and at the same time he now knows too much about us. So for the time being, he'll be staying here."

"So I'm a prisoner," said Claude.

"In a way. You're free to walk around the guild hall. You'll be given a room as well, but should I sense your magic even flutter a little, there will be consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" asked Claude.

"I believe I made myself clear on how I feel about my people being attacked."

"This is bullshit Old man!" shouted Mun. "How can you expect us to stay under the same roof as him!"

"I expect you to do as you're told when it's clear you're out of your depth. And let the be the last time I hear you call me that."

Mun was gonna respond, but chose to walk off his anger instead.

"This is stupid. I'm out of here," said Marix as he took off.

Later that night, Rayna and Mason were called into Garave's semi-complete guild office. "Our time together has been short, but I trust your opinions on matters like this. How do you feel about my decision?"

"I feel he's too dangerous to keep around, but something tells me there's more than you said earlier for a reason to hold him as a prisoner. Especially in the early stages of our guild," said Mason. The brunette didn't mince words and that was one of the reasons Garave had come to like so quickly.

"I felt his power first hand, I'm stronger than some of the other mages and I was not entirely capable of keeping myself together," added Rayna. "I need more training."

"I see," began Garave. "In truth, I don't want him here. But he's too dangerous to let run wild now. And what's more, Mason, him and my contact up North have already told me about movement in response to our quick growth. If possible, one day I'd like to have Claude on our side."

"You want to use his abilities?" asked Rayna.

"I'd be lying if I said no. I look at him, and I can't resist the urge to polish potential. It's a bad habit, but mages with potential to grow are always so amazing to watch. But this is war. The moment this crest was formed, we declared war on everyone around so, yes, if possible I'd want him to use his strength for our cause."

"It's risky," said Mason. "What will you do if he hurts one of your mages or never comes to aid our cause?"

"I've sent an enchantment in place which will sound an alarm if he uses any magic. He tried to use his skills on me so it was quite simple to set up. Also, I'll be leaving for a few days."

"What?!" Both mages shouted in unison.

"Where could you possibly be going at a time like this?" asked Mason.

"Things are progressing faster than expected," said Garave. "I'll have to meet with my contact. And now with Claude here, if he does decide to act up, I'd prefer to have a means to stop him without killing him. My contact will be able to help me with that."

"In my absence, Felix Deo will lead the guild as a figurehead along with you two as support. However, he's been made aware that all decisions will be settled with a best of 3 vote if need be. Can I trust you two with this task?"

"Yes master."

"Yes sir."

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, Lira, Numa Orbis**

"He went where!?" screamed Mun. "He takes a prisoner and then dumps him on us?"

"Mhmm. In his absence, we're to maintain our current pace of construction and town assistance missions," said Mason.

"This is so stupid!" yelled Mun as he picked up a hammer and angrily got back to work.

Rayna began assigning tasks for the day and slowly the mages of Numa Orbis got to work. The last group to get assigned a mission was a couple of Mun's former bandits. Eager to prove themselves, they were overjoyed to hear that they were getting a mission out of the city.

"On the outskirts of the town is a group of hermits," said Rayna. "You'll be establishing contact with them on behalf of the guild. It shouldn't be anything dangerous, but just in case anything gets out of hand, Marix will be accompanying you all as will Lamily."

"I'll be what?!"

"Yay!"

"Wait, why am I not on this mission?" asked Mun.

He had cooled down a bit, but seemed a bit wary letting his friends go out of his sight.

"You're needed here in case things get out of hand," Rayna said as she gestured to Claude who was laying on the grass.

He didn't like it, but on the off chance that Claude did something Mun didn't want to miss the chance to make him pay for it.

"You better look out for them!" He called out to Marix.

"Oh shut it!" Marix yelled back.

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, North of Lira**

Garave had left early in the morning so he had already put quite some distance between himself and the guild. He had to meet his contact and return as soon as possible.

He was moving fast, fast enough that most people assumed it was the wind that had blown past them, but as he moved north the terrain grew less and less grassy until it was stone and from there it edged into sand until he found himself entering a desert-like area. It was Alakitasia's Central desert, Cason. With this he was officially in the territory of Namoor Kingdom.

Each step propelled him closer to the Kingdom's capital, but before that he passed a figure cloaked in a dark gray garb.

He didn't know them, but it was clear they were a mage. There was a feeling he couldn't quite place and before he knew it he had come to a stop. No longer moving faster than could be noticed, the figure turned on its heel, clearly not content, with the sudden appearance of a mage.

"Tell me who you are. But know if I don't like your answer, I'll kill you," a woman's voice said with an icy chill that excited Garave.

"I've got an appointment to keep, but I wouldn't mind hanging around for a moment," he said as his energy intensified.

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, Lira, Numa Orbis**

"I'm so happy we get to go on a mission!" cheered Lamily.

Several of the bandits quickly agreed. It was hard moving from bandit to official mage, but they were getting a fresh start. They were learning magic. They were slowly becoming accepted by the people of Lira and now a mission out of the city, they were turning a corner in their lives.

"Yeah yeah," Marix soured. He was in a foul mood. It was one thing to admire them from afar, but to be stuck on a mission with them out in the open, he was mortified. "Let's do this and get back… quickly."

It didn't take long for them to leave them city limits, but before they could get to the hermits a large blade coated in fire pierced the ground before them. It's owner, a tall red haired man, stood beside it. It was clear he was traveling from his 3 day unshaven beard and dirt on his full plate gothic armour and black pants. His dark brown boots were covered in a mixture of mud and water as well, making it clear he had come from the East.

He placed the Barbuta helmet under his arm on his head and said, "I've come to collect the bounty on the bandits. Step aside."

"What bounty?" asked one of the bandits.

"It was removed," said another.

"Of course it was," said the red headed man as he freed his giant sword from the ground.

At that moment, a terrible feeling came over Marix, after all this time he'd still forgotten to properly carry the documentation for the bounties on the bandits.

"I have no business with you two," said the man as he threw several bounty sheets on the floor. "I only want these 3 and the locations for the rest."

"We're not criminals any longer," said one of the bandits. "We've changed and our records were cleared. Tell him Marix."

"These bounties were active as of yesterday, so there's nothing you can tell me now. Come with me or I'll take you by force."

Fear had them nearly rooted to the ground. It was clear to the bandits that none of them could take on the mage before them, despite their efforts they couldn't stand on their own.

"If you move from me, I'll take it that you're running," the red haired man said coldly.

His words only inspired more fear and by accident, one of the bandits tripped backwards instantly causing the mage to dart at them with his blade drawn.

The blade came crashing down only to be caught by a hand covered in electricity. "Damn it!" shouted Marix. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I don't want to be involved with the likes of you bandits, but I'll be damned if I let this jackass kill you!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

If you have any outstanding messages with me, I'd highly appreciate it if you could send a reminder. My email is a little messed up at the moment.

I know I've been gone for a long time. You all have my sincerest apologies. I'll be trying my hardest to get back into writing regularly. Look out for more updates on most of my stories. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

 **Review Section:**

1) Black Falcoln - Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully this one didn't disappoint.

2) Reven228 - That's very kind of you thank you.

3) Mary Allen - That's sweet of you. Really, I like Rayna as a character. She's a lot of fun to write. I know there was less Marix/Mun collisions, but hopefully you enjoyed it still.

4) Outcast001 - Honestly, I'm just happy you're reading it. I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but hopefully you'll still stick around. Claude's got a lot to work with so it's great to have him.

5) RedMoonRabbit - I hope I didn't disappoint with this chapter. I know it took a turn some might have been unhappy with. But, hopefully you enjoyed it. I want to try and be as organic as possible with the way I introduce and use OCs, so I'm hoping you see that in the writing.

6) Piece of Sheet - Claude is great. I'm lucky to have him.

7) Elegant Soul - Glad you liked it.

8) Tomanyideas - I like Rayna a lot as well. And Marix is probably one of my favorite characters to write.

9) .hunter - Hopefully you liked this chapter. I'll try and be more regular about updates.

10) ashcat - Thank you for your concerns. Hope you liked it.

 **On an entirely unrelated note. I wanted an opinion from my readers. I was wondering how many of you read or watched HunterxHunter and would be interested if I wrote a story in that world? Please let me know.**

Thanks again for reading.


	6. There's More To It Than Knights?

**Author's Note:**

Meant to upload a Most Free Chapter, but got sidetracked working out plans for this and decided to write this while I had the inspiration. Most Free should be next.

I know this is a lot to ask, but there are some relevant things to look at in the Author's Note, if you're not too busy, I'd appreciate a look through down below and some feedback.

Also… I'll be more careful with how I choose to describe things so as to not mislead people. The connection slipped my mind even though this is a story about magic. "Icy chill". My bad. Haha. My bad.

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, North of Lira**

He didn't answer. The plastered smile and steadily raising energy was all Garave offered as a response to the garbed woman before him.

"I take it you're here to bring me back then. Fine," said the mage.

As a mercenary, Garave had a bad habit. It wasn't so much he wanted to fight all the strong mages, but he had always enjoyed fighting the resolute. Someone who seems near unbreakable in whatever they're doing, that was what drew Garave in the most. And now someone like that was heading South, towards Lira.

" _I have to know why they're heading there before I move on."_ thought Garave. _"Twice I've received warnings of movement up North and now someone like this appears before me."_

The mysterious woman began to flare her own energy, but Garave cleared the distance in a flash swinging a crashing down upon her. The force sent waves of sand exploding outwards, but he'd missed his target as she jumped away with ease.

"Don't think poorly of me," he said. "It's foolish to let an opponent prepare an attack."

"Not to worry," she shot back coolly. "I wasn't expecting much of a fair fight anyway."

"Good to know. While you're over there, catch this for me," he called out. Energy settled on his fist before he hurled it at his opponents at break neck speed.

"Miracle Wall!"

She pressed her palms together before slamming them down on the ground forcing a wall of energy to erect and block the attack. The energy grinded into the shield forcing her to stay rooted.

"Incoming!" the master playfully shouted. He was behind her already bringing another cocked back fist her way.

Instincts allowed her to dodge in time for the energy to break through and collide with Garave's fist. It dispersed as soon as it collided with him.

"You're not going to use your magic," said the garbed mage. "You may end up paying for that in the end."

"It would seem you've decided not to give me a reason to use it yet," teased Garave.

"Roaring Lancer!" shouted the young woman as she coated her hands in energy and took off.

He could see her. She was moving fast, faster than most of his mages back home. Faster than a lot of mages on the continent. But he could see her. It was clear she'd worked hard from the moment she could walk to achieve this strength and so now Garave faced an internal dilemma. Polish the diamond in front of him or break a potential threat.

"I hate it when this happens," he said aloud.

She reached him and began her assault. Punch after punch pouring into his body. The energy of each one crossing from the front of his body and out the back with enough force to blow holes in the sand dunes around them.

She kept it going. By now, any other opponent would have retreated or went down, but Garave stood towering over her, simply watching. But that wouldn't deter her. She refused to be defeated here. Not after surviving for so long. She only stopped at the sound of his voice.

"Arkaitz."

Her eyes glanced between his face and his unharmed chest continuously.

Using her reaction as reassurance, he continued, "I've fought so many battles, it took some time to place it, but you're definitely from the Arkaitz. What's an Arkaitz doing so far South? Now let me return your earlier sentiment. If I don't like your answer, I'll kill you."

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, Outside of Lira**

The swordsman and Marix pushed with all their might against one another. Neither wanting to give an inch.

"You're not much if I can hold back this huge blade with one hand!" yelled Marix as his free hand coated in lightning aimed to pierce the redheaded opponent's throat.

Quick to show that one doesn't lightly choose such an overbearing sword as their weapon

He rotated the hilt fiercely, freeing the blade and allowing him to deflect the incoming lightning claw.

The redhead jumped back to put some distance between his opponent and himself.

" _He's no joke,"_ he thought as his eyes landed on Lamily. _"And what's more, he's not alone. There's another mage here and I don't know how capable she is."_

The red head took off towards Marix, swinging his blade horizontally, hoping to cleave his opponent in half.

The attack forced Marix to jump, bringing his knees up to his chest to avoid losing them. However, with a quick flick of his wrist, the bounty hunter switched to a vertical slice.

Instinct allowed for Marix to coat his feet in lightning giving them a claw-like appearance now. His left foot grinded down the large sword as he was landing, creating bright sparks as the lightning and fire intertwined, giving him a foot hold to rotate a kick into the mage's side and send him crashing through several nearby trees.

A look of accomplishment washed over Marix. He might have lost to a no-class mage, but he wasn't going to be making a habit out of it.

"And with that, I've given those idiots enough time to-"

He paused mid-sentence when his eyes landed on his guild mates. "What the hell are you all doing here still?!" he yelled.

"What do you mean?" asked a bandit.

"You're supposed to be running," continued Marix, lightning now in hand. "It's not like any of you can do anything here."

"Eek!" squealed Lamily as she began pushing the bandits along.

"Good. Now that they're gone, we can continue our fight. You gonna stay in there all day? Don't tell me you actually died?!"

The red head re-emerged from the brush, a look of anger on his face. A look which seemed to intensify at the sight of the bandits fleeing. He didn't have time to waste here. He had to be back with those bounties as soon as possible.

He lunged at Marix immediately with only one hand gripping the sword.

It was strange, but it wasn't an opening Marix intended to waste. With such a heavy sword being wielded with one hand, it would be hard to disarm his opponent.

Marix swung a claw-like hand of lightning a the sword, but just before it landed, the bounty hunter flipped the sword to reveal a rune spelling out the word, "ignite" and shielded his eyes.

The mis of fire and lightning from colliding with the rune created a bright explosion, blinding Marix.

With his blade coated in flame again, the hunter said, "Stay out of my way, I'll be retrieving my bounty now."

He turned in the direction of Lamily and the bandits, wrote the rune "speed" on his chest and took off.

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, Lira, Numa Orbis**

Rayna and Mason had Mun and the remaining bandits busy. They were hard at work on construction. Slowly, but surely the guild was coming together. It was impressive.

It almost felt surreal to call a place like this home for all of them as most of them had spent most of their lives on the road.

"Wouldn't I be more help if I was untied?" asked Claude. "Weren't you supposed to leave me unbound? Something about being a prisoner, but not really?"

"Weren't you supposed to stay out of our way?" Mun growled.

"And how exactly am I in your way?" Claude's voice said as silkily smooth as possible.

Every time he spoke like that it sent a shiver down Mun's back. But the sensor hadn't gone off which, to Mun, meant this wasn't magic, this was just Claude being a creep.

"Can you shut up?!" yelled Mun.

"There's no need to yell Mun. He won't be doing anything with me sitting here watching him," said Mason.

And that was another thing. Up til this point, Mun had seen magic used to punch people. Honestly, the concept of using magic to do other stuff left him dumbfounded. So when Mason pulled out a small easel and drew a lifesize copy of himself into existence, Mun's jaw hit the floor.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Claude.

"As sure as I am that I can draw more than a nice self portrait," chuckled the Mason copy.

The real Mason was inside the guild looking over the instructions for where to build next. The plans were extensive and really showed exactly how set upon growing this guild into a country, Garave was.

"Well tell me this, how do a bunch of bandits end up joining a guild?" the tall prisoner asked.

Not wanting to talk to the man, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to tell the story had Mun stuck at a crossroad. Eventually he gave in and told the story. "We were celebrating on this hillside, when Pops showed up and said it was his. So we fought. I held my own for a while before he finally wore me down. He's old, but he's strong."

"You put up a decent fight against that monster?" Claude asked sincerely. "Against the Lone Master?"

"The what now?" asked Mun.

"Pfft! I figured you weren't the brightest in the bunch, but you're really are some new mage. Fine, I'll explain it to you as slowly as I can. You know the empire had ranks ranging from private to Knight."

"Yeah."

"However, a lot of of the empire was made up of clans which had long since established their own ranking system. Seeing your guild mates first hand, I'd say they were about the level of Apprentice. While you don't seem to add up to more than a Novice, the next distinction up."

"Yeah, if I'm a Novice, explain to me why I'm not the one tied up!" Mun angrily shot back.

"Oooh, touched a nerve," Claude sang. "Anyhow, above that are an expert, followed by Journeyman and Master. Clans can go decades without distinguishing one of their own as a Grand Master, the highest honor. By convention, the Knights of the empire are all masters and grand masters and your guild master somehow managed to prove himself as one of the strongest without being from any clan.

"It's true," added Mason. "He's quite celebrated among mercenaries up North. And is part of the reason the guild is receiving so much attention so soon. Even if the guild is small, the notion of two people on Grand Master level in one force has some Northerners unsettled.

"Then why not Lone Grand Master?" asked Mun.

"I suppose it didn't have as good a ring," laughed Mason.

"As good a ring? What does that even - Wait, two?"

"You really can be clueless," said Rayna. "Master Deo has the distinction of grand master."

"The lightning asshole's old man?!"

"Yes. Felix Deo is one of the strongest mages in the South," said Mason.

"Then how about that asshole?"

"I believe his distinction is expert," said Rayna.

"Ha!" Shouted Mun. "Then I must be a Master already!"

"Ugh," said Mason and Rayna in unison.

"Wait," said Claude. "You never said what you were celebrating when you had your great fight with the master."

"Oh. Um we had procured a really interesting item and we-"

"Earth bow!"

The arrow crashed into Mun and sent him flying through the forest.

"That's for robbing me," sighed Rayna before putting away her bow.

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, Outside of Lira**

It was the type of feeling that raises the hairs on your arms. The type of feeling which tells you to run and not look back.

Lamily knew that the bandits were in trouble, she couldn't see Marix, but somehow she was sure that the attacker had gotten past him.

"Stop, go right!" she said quickly.

They were on a path right now and she was hoping that if she sent them into the trees around them, it'd save them.

They seemed to want to argue with her plan, but the pigtailed mage's face told them there was no time to argue.

And she wasn't wrong. Within moments of them disappearing the redhead appeared.

"My name is Dagonet Lucan. I am a bounty hunter and you are directly interfering with capture of these criminals. If you continue to resist I'll have to take you in for aiding the criminal."

"Is my friend alive?" asked Lamily.

"The lightning mage with a short temper? He's fine. He, um, saw the light and decided to let me through."

"I don't believe you."

"That doesn't matter. If you get in my way, I'll have to deal with you as well."

" _It's not hate in his heart. It's pain. Something is pushing him to do this even though he doesn't want to."_ thought Lamily.

"What's pushing you to do this?" Lamily asked aloud.

"What? What, I'm just doing my job.

" _He isn't lying. He's truly here for the job."_ thought Lamily.

"If you need money, I'm sure there's another way to get it. These people are innocent and the bounty isn't valid anymore."

"I've already told you once. If you get in my way, then I'll fight you as well."

"Anger Pulse, Anger Strike," Lamily said calmly.

A red pulse of energy pushed outward from her as a similar colored array of energy covered her limbs. The pulse hit Dagonet and the veins his necks and face seemed to swell as he became more and more angry.

He swung violently at her. There was no rhyme or reason to it. He couldn't explain it, he had forgotten about his bounties and simply wanted to cut down the mage in front of him and that was fine for Lamily.

Each wild swing left an opening to be filled with a flurry of punches. A swing that seemed to close in on the tiny mage was skillfully danced around. In no time at all, the bounty hunter didn't resemble his old self. It didn't even seem as if he could form words through his anger.

He let out one last gut-wrenching roar before charging one last time, only for Lamily to slide between his legs, come up behind him and plant another furious set of punches.

It was an assault based around the anger in his soul and she was pushing it to the brink. With that last set, he lost consciousness from his own anger.

The tiny mage squatted beside him and said, "I'm really sorry for whatever you're going through. I hope it gets better."

* * *

 **January 1st, X576, North of Lira**

She had pulled off the hood which hid her pale skinned face and chocolate brown hair. There was a curved scar on her cheek and a fierce expression in her eyes.

"Are you not from Arkaitz?" she asked hesitantly.

"No. I'm from Lira in the South," began Garave. "I'm leading a new guild down there, but I have business with a contact North of here.

"Why are you telling me all this?" the woman asked.

"Because it won't matter, if I don't like your answer to my question. Now. Why are you heading South?"

It didn't take long for her to put who she was talking to together. "I believe, I was on my way to speak to you and ask to join your guild."

"Now why would an Arkaitz, so far South be asking to join my guild, when the Arkaitz rule one of the strongest kingdoms on the whole continent?"

"Would it suffice to say I have my reasons?" the woman asked.

"No it wouldn't, but how about we start with a name?"

"My name is Viatrix Arkaitz. But you can call me 'Vi'.

"Okay, Vi. We've got a long road ahead of us, so you've got plenty of time to explain yourself to me and if by the end I don't believe you. I'll kill you." said Garave.

There wasn't a deviation in his tone. He spoke calmly and evenly, making sure to get across how serious he was.

"I understand. Lead the way."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

If you have any outstanding messages with me, I'd highly appreciate it if you could send a reminder. My email is a little messed up at the moment.

I'm glad the support for this is remaining strong. I hope to be uploading semi-regularly. Hopefully we get back into things more regularly. If anyone has any questions feel free to message me.

 **Random:** On an entirely unrelated note. For those interested in the Hunter x Hunter idea or worried it'll detract me from an already sporadic schedule. Not to worry, I'm currently just trying to gauge interest in it. The fics in that category don't get many readers. So I wanted to know how many people might be interested in it. If people want more ideas for what exactly I was thinking, then feel free to message me.

 **OCs:** Thanks to everyone who submitted OCs. I'm hoping that I'm portraying them well. If anything at all is off, feel free to message me.

1) Claude Cortis - Piece of Sheet

2) Viatrix Arkaitz - Dreadburner94

3) Dagonet Lucan - Tomanyideas

 **Review Section:**

1) Mary Allen - Your enthusiasm and support has been very inspiring. More than you could ever know. I'm very grateful. Hopefully things were up to standard for you this chapter as well. I'd say my favorite character currently to write is probably Claude. He reminds of another psychopath who I love to write. Haha. Right. I think OCs like Rayna and Mason are necessary for the backbone of a guild on its way to being a country.

2) Tomanyideas - Yup! Marix and his... well everything I guess. Haha. He and Mun really ended up being two sides of the same coin. I hope I didn't disappoint. In complete honesty, I initially misunderstood what you meant, by flamebladed. That should give you an idea as to how out of it I've been recently. I'll dance around it better as we go along. Thanks for the help.

3) Piece of Sheet - Honestly, I'm happy people are reading, but seeing reviews where people say they were waiting for me to come back is very flattering. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting and I hope I can keep you entertained moving forward. I'm very happy to have Claude. You have no idea. It helps to have a character who's unhinged to say the things you want said because they don't abide by the same set of rules.

4) Outcast001 - Well, it's a pleasure to have you around. Haha. I wasn't sure if I'd still have you as a reader after all this time. The next time you see my name in your inbox, should be a Most Free update. Marix is an interesting character to write. I really like writing Marix and Mun together, but having them interact with others is fun too.

5) ElMacho - I hope you'll be here to read this as well.

6) Elegant Soul - Claude's a great character with a lot of depth. I'd like to use it a lot more as well.

Thanks again for reading.


	7. Back Home Again

**Author's Note** : Right, so….. I'm about to do something that's incredibly jarring, but given the length of hiatus of this project it might be helpful. I'll be doing a recap and then a short time skip. So apologies to whoever is new to this story.

* * *

 **Recap** : Our story began with the creation a guild called Numa Orbis on the continent of Alakitasia. The would be master had obtained land outside the town of Lira and had managed to gain support from local bandits, nobility and wandering strangers. With Mun and Marix of the bandits and nobility, respectively, initially clashing they found themselves looking after the weaker members of the guild when they found themselves the target of various bounty hunters. At the same time, Master Garave had come across an interesting noble mage from one of the Northern Guild Countries controlled by a powerful knight, Arkaitz.

 **Timeskip** : In the week that followed their meeting, Garave and Vi had made their way to the middle of the continent with hopes of meeting an old friend and ally of Garave, Toral Kelmise. Garave had described her as a powerful informant in the country of Fasire, but their journey was cut short by an immense blockade stretching around the Southern border of the country. With no choice, but to return to Lira, Garave heard out Vi's reasons for heading South and despite the risk of taking in an enemy's relative he agreed to keep her secret. Back in Numa Orbis, Rayna and Mason made a great deal of progress on the guild, putting the headquarters much closer to completion. However, Marix and Lamily found themselves fighting against a bounty hunter named Dagonet after an old bounty put him on the bandits' path. After temporarily besting him, they regrouped with the bandits and their other guildmates. When Dagonet tracked them down later he found himself facing down an entire guild's worth of enemies. Despite the odds, Dagonet seemed driven to fight and take as many people with him as possible. However, a loud explosion and blaring alarm preceded Dagonet having an abrupt change in disposition. With him quickly apologizing before running off, the guild realized Claude had used his magic to force Dagonet away without confrontation. The use of magic had left him in tatters though due to Garave's alarming countermeasure. Much to everyone's surprise, when he awoke a few days later, he boldly exclaimed his desire to see how a guild like this plays out.

* * *

 **January 8th, X576, Numa Orbis**

Confusion best described Garave as he burst through the guild doors only to find the bulk of his members eating a quiet breakfast with Claude in bandages.

"What's going on here?" asked Garave.

"You've returned Master," began Rayna. "Was your trip well? Who is this?"

Beside Garave, stood the mage known as Vi.

"This is Viatrix."

"But you can call me Vi," said the pale young woman. "To be completely honest, this isn't at all like what you described Master Garave."

Garave himself face was a mix of pride and shock. He had spent the majority of the trip talking about how rambunctious the group was and to give them a chance at first. He'd mentioned that he was almost certain the guild would be in pieces due to a few hot headed tempers.

"Oi! What's she talking about Pops?" shouted Mun.

"I don't like what she insinuated just now? shouted Marix.

They gave each other a quick glare before returning to their meal, their eyes never leaving each other.

Garave shook off his shock and said, "I thought I was coming back to a large pile of lumber, but I'm actually impressed."

The had put on many of the finishing touches to the large lounge-like room that currently held all the members of the guild, save for the rest of the Deo Clan. However, several circular doorways now led into long hallways which housed the dormitories of the clan members. Almost all of the current members had completed rooms and many others were in the process of finishing.

In the lounge area was currently a makeshift board that Rayna said Marix had sent to formally post missions.

"Here Master," she said as she handed him a stack of papers. "These are formal jobs that Felix Deo said you would have to look over and decide the appropriate difficulty distinctions and who you thought was most suited for what?

All the progress, all the silence, all the peace had Garave stunned. "How?" managed the old master.

The tiniest of grins snuck across Rayna's normally stoic face. "You told us to tone down how hard we worked them, so we did."

He master cocked his head in confusion, thinking back to when he found the mages sprawled out and exhausted from Rayna and Mason's efficiency then he took a hard look at his mages. Taking in the winces and grimaces everytime someone simply lifted food off of their plate.

"They're too tired to fight?" Garave deadpanned.

"Yes!" shouted the guild.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Okay! So first and foremost, thank you to everyone who miraculously continues to support me. Truly grateful. Thanks for all the words of encouragement.

There were no character introductions and this chapter was especially short. While I am sorry about that, I feel like it creates the space I needed to get into the next arc. Hopefully, you all enjoyed this and yes, next time there will be a proper update.

That said! I am curious. I am trying to get an idea of what people are enjoying most so I can create a schedule of some sort or pick out a day or two to do updates. So if you happen to read more than one of my stories, feel free tell what you liked the most.

Thanks for reading.


	8. Thank You

First and Foremost, thank you to everyone who has ever spent any time reading, reviewing and creating OCs for the stories I wrote. I am sorry to say, that I won't be updating any longer. It had always been my intention to continue and complete the stories I sought to bring to you all and I'm terribly sorry to have disappointed many of you. Since I began writing fanfiction, I've been plagued by technology issues. Recently I felt confident that was no longer the issue, but as per my luck that turned out to not be the case. And this time around there was quite a lot that wasn't stored on a backup. At this point, it feels like me writing here wasn't meant to be and so this is a formal thank you to everyone who has supported me up until now. Thank you.


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